A day after a toddler was found lying dead along the seashore at Thayyil in Kannur district, his mother, Saranya, has been arrested by the police for allegedly murdering the child. The arrest was registered by Kannur City Police officials on Tuesday night.
It was on Monday morning that one and a half year-old Viyan, also son of Pranav and Saranya from Thayyil, was found dead amidst the rocks and concrete blocks along the seashore near their house. What had made the police suspect murder was a head injury on the child, indicating that it may have been slammed against the rocks or blocks. After about 24 hours of questioning, both the parents who had been taken into custody, the police finally arrested Saranya. According to police officials, Saranya has confessed to having committed the crime. (Such a confession however may not be admissible in court).
On Monday early morning, it was Viyan’s father Pranav who lodged a complaint with the Kannur City police stating that their child had gone missing. A few hours into a search by police officials with the assistance of neighbours, the body of the child was found lying amidst rocks along the seashore which is about 50 metres away from the house.
The police then soon took both the parents into custody after their initial statements were found to be contradicting each other.
“Both were giving statements against each other and we knew that one of them was responsible for the murder. We just had to find who among the two was behind it. We had sent the clothes that they wore for scientific examination. It was found that the clothes that Saranya wore during the time of the incident had the presence of salt, indicating that she had been to the sea,” the investigation officer to TNM.
But since the family anyway live near the sea, the police will need more proof to prove the crime. The officer says that the woman has confessed and even mentioned that she was in a relationship with another man and she wanted to live with him. Police also say that they have other scientific evidence against the woman.
The postmortem had revealed that the child’s death was due to the head injury. Reports also state that Saranya allegedly threw the child towards the rocks at the seashore, which resulted in the head injury.
Saranya has been presently charged with murder. As per officials, more charges will be added if necessary after further probe.